How does Playing by Email work?

[wedgeski]

The only PBEM I ever played in was a Star Trek one, many years ago (circa 1997, "USS Devanchya" I think it was called, lasted for a few months until the person running it got tired and pulled the plug out of nowhere)

I'm not really that surprised. What you're describing is IME a huge amount of work for the GM, and it doesn't take long to lose the love. When the game becomes a chore, it's time to kill it.

Most PBeM's I've played in or run have been very mechanically light and consist almost purely of roleplaying. Even those that have started off with aspirations of supporting the normal d20 combat system have devolved into pure 'interactive story-telling'. In general, they're incredibly rewarding, and you know that the d20 framework is always waiting in the wings to handle anything that needs some kind of randomised resolution process.

Again though, the interactive story PBeM may not be for everyone, although I would advise everyone to at least give it a try.

 

[The_Magician]

Not necessarily. My first PbP combat as a GM took only a single hour. Now, I have been told that I am somewhat out of the ordinary due to fast posting on my part, but it still proves that it is possible.

Resolving a combat in an hour doesnt have to do with fast posting from the DM part. Unless it is a single round combat and all your players post in less than an hour their actions. Or if you are resolving most of the combat on your own and the players just read it.

The more players you have and the higher the level of the campaign, the longer it will probably take to resolve the combat. Of course, when announcing his game, the DM should set the intended speed for it. My games always have the speed of 4+ posts per week and that allows me to solve combats in a few days.

I also prefer using as less targets in a combat as possible. So, if I am using an official adventure module that tells me the PCs will have an encounter with 10 Goblins, I try to reduce that number, but keeping the same CR, so there are less targets and thus the combat can be resolved faster. Just replace some of the goblins or hobgoblins, for example. Now, some friends told me thjat it is fast with a bigger number of weaker creatures than with a smaller number of stronger creatures. Maybe it is in his games, but my experience has showed me otherwise.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Resolving a combat in an hour doesnt have to do with fast posting from the DM part. Unless it is a single round combat and all your players post in less than an hour their actions. Or if you are resolving most of the combat on your own and the players just read it.

The more players you have and the higher the level of the campaign, the longer it will probably take to resolve the combat. Of course, when announcing his game, the DM should set the intended speed for it. My games always have the speed of 4+ posts per week and that allows me to solve combats in a few days.

I also prefer using as less targets in a combat as possible. So, if I am using an official adventure module that tells me the PCs will have an encounter with 10 Goblins, I try to reduce that number, but keeping the same CR, so there are less targets and thus the combat can be resolved faster. Just replace some of the goblins or hobgoblins, for example. Now, some friends told me thjat it is fast with a bigger number of weaker creatures than with a smaller number of stronger creatures. Maybe it is in his games, but my experience has showed me otherwise.

Nope, the combat lasted for 3 rounds, but was still finished in an hour. Now, granted, it isn't always that fast for me. In one combat involving 8 PCs, 15 hobgoblins, 2 gray renders, and 10 orcs (each group of which entered at a different time), it took quite a while to resolve it.

 

[The_Magician]

Still, that has nothing to do with the speed of the game in itself. It has to do with the coincidence of having all your players online to reply to your posts during that specific combat. People live in different parts of the world, with different time zones, different lives, different occupations and different free time to play, so it doesnt matter how fast your game is, you wont be resolving your combats in an hour, or even less than a day, as a rule. Yeah, it can be done. The same way that people can survive airplane crashes. =P Unless this wasnt PBEM or PBP, but real time online roleplaying (via mIRC, or instant messengers). If so, then maybe it took too long. =P

 

[Rystil Arden]

Still, that has nothing to do with the speed of the game in itself. It has to do with the coincidence of having all your players online to reply to your posts during that specific combat. People live in different parts of the world, with different time zones, different lives, different occupations and different free time to play, so it doesnt matter how fast your game is, you wont be resolving your combats in an hour, or even less than a day, as a rule. Yeah, it can be done. The same way that people can survive airplane crashes. =P Unless this wasnt PBEM or PBP, but real time online roleplaying (via mIRC, or instant messengers). If so, then maybe it took too long. =P

No, it was PbP. It all depends, really. I have players in Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and different parts of the US, but that still doesn't stop some of the combats from going very quickly sometimes and slow other times.

And I disagree with you that it doesn't matter how fast your game is--it definitely is strongly a function of the speed of posting. I have some players who will post 40 times in a day if I let them, and in fact one of them did today.

 

[Arkhandus]

I've only had experience in two short PBEM D&D games; one homebrew and one Oriental Adventures - Rokugan. I was only a player in both, and while the DMs of both flaked out after a little while (one was understandably busy, the other just kinda stopped responding to e-mails suddenly), the games were fun while they lasted. I really wanted to play Thaeros Faerill or Yogo Shoritomo some more......

Definitely a fine format for roleplay-heavy games, and not too bad for combat. In my experience, the players send their character sheets (with all relevant details therein, including separate totals for important stuff to save the DM the trouble of calculating it all during play), get them approved or sent back for adjustments, and then when the DM is satisfied, he runs the game. When dice rolls are called for, the DM rolls dice and then posts the results of the action. During battle the players provide a description of what they'll do on their turn; some DMs may require this at the start of the round, some may take these in the order of initiative. In the first method, it's best to note a few contingencies in case the situation changes before your PC's turn; i.e. a note that says, if any ally drops, my cleric abandons his first idea and rushes to heal them with a Cure Moderate Wounds or whatever.

I'm a long-time fan of PbEM. It's how Pledge of Tyranny is progressing until end of October. Sometimes the DM has to take a character over for a round or two during combat, but if you can find a set of reliable players, it's a lot of fun and very addicting.

The problem is in finding a set of reliable players.

Speaking of that, is there anyone in here who owns Arcana Evolved and would enjoy a PbEM?

I might be interested, though I only have Arcana Unearthed (I'm poor right now, I'm sorry! ) as of yet. Given relevant details on the campaign, I'm sure I could whip up a character (just couldn't use any stuff myself that was revised or added in AE......). E-mail's in my EN World profile if you're serious.

 

[The_Magician]

Oh, a player posting 40 times a day I dont think is so out of the ordinary. Having all the players in the game posting 40 times a day each, is.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Oh, a player posting 40 times a day I dont think is so out of the ordinary. Having all the players in the game posting 40 times a day each, is.

Well, it depends on if your group has someone who will be the limiting factor (which admittedly, most of mine do), but I know from some of my players here on ENWorld that I could find at least a group of 4 that could manage a good number of posts per day an appreciable percentage of the time.

 

[Pinotage]

I've tried Play by E-mail many times in the past, but in the old end I settled on Play by Forum/Play by Post. That's all I play, as life otherwise does not give me the opportunities to play over the table. Play by Post allows a lot more options that E-mail. Many forums such as PlaybyWeb have built in dice rollers, you can link maps into your forums, the boards are organized into separate threads, you can send private notes to players, lock threads from other players if the party splits, etc.

I've never experienced problems running combat. Combat starts with me posting the combat map, and describing the situation, and players then have 24 hours to respond to that. Sometimes players get their posts in sooner. Then again, with some of the players in the past in my games being from Singapore and the US, time delays can be vast. After 24 hours or once all the posts are in, I resolve the combat, post an initiative order, send private notes related to monster actions if appropriate, and then wait for player posts. If a player doesn't post within 24 hours, I assume a reasonable course of action that won't consume massive resource or ask other players for suggestions.

It all depends on the environment you play in, the DM, the activity of players, etc. But for me, it's the only way I can play and I love it!

Pinotage

 

[The_Magician]

Well, it depends on if your group has someone who will be the limiting factor (which admittedly, most of mine do), but I know from some of my players here on ENWorld that I could find at least a group of 4 that could manage a good number of posts per day an appreciable percentage of the time.

Oh, sure. A good number of posts sounds a lot more plausible, and something I think the OP could expect from PBEM/PBP games.